Another Start
by posthumous
Summary: Another start in the Sakura wars story with some additions of my own. Details in default chapter. Enjoy.
1. Default Chapter

**Author's note**

This is a Sakura Wars fan fiction with a tiny cross with the Warhammer 40k. Aside from a character and some references to the Warhammer 40k universe that will mainly appear only in the first chapter or so, this will be a Sakura Wars fic based mainly on the story in the game with light to heavy modifications to the plot.

Absolutely no Warhammer 40k knowledge is needed to read this fic, all events occur in the Sakura Wars universe If some unfamiliar terms appear I will strive to include a definition in absolute layman's terms.

Finally, I own nothing from Warhammer 40k and Sakura Wars except the character Icharus McKenzie and please do drop a review after chapter or two so that I can see how badly or goodly I am doing.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy my fic.


	2. Departure and Arrival

**Author's Note**

A slightly long first chapter. Took me some time to write it up as I discarded countless starting events and got to this one.

_**

* * *

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_**Warhammer 40,000 Universe**_

_**On Board the frigate the Dawn of War**_

"_I----CHA-----RUSSSSSS! YOU TRAI---TORRRRR!"_

_The bestial cry from his 10-feet-tall pursuer just a corner away behind him was more than enough motivation for Icharus to give his legs wings._

"_Hurry!"_

_Sergeant Yoshimo was screaming at him from inside of their getaway pod._

_Just ten more meters! He thought._

_Risking a backward glance, he saw his gaining predator._

_No doubt the creature was an intimidating sight when it stood at its full height, resembling very much a deformed dragon without skin but in the cramp hallways of the ship they were on, it looked like a carrion worm working its ways through the entrails of some animal looking for scrap food. Its oily black wings was folded and crumpled at the cramp hallway and its hideous mouth (filled with a pair of fine jagged teeth, he unfortunately noticed, was eager to chew on his entrails) was cursing and spitting his name at every step he made. _

_However, it would not have its wish, Icharus made it pass the small hatchway and Yoshimo slammed the heavy door right as the creature's snout reached the doorway. As it howled in pain and anger, the two men and a few others who were already in the pod buckled themselves in their seat._

"_You got it?" Yoshimo asked him breathlessly as he tried to ignore the screaming and pounding from the further enraged monstrosity outside the pod._

_Icharus nodded and pulled out a purplish crystal pendant from under his flak armor. Yoshimo nodded back, acknowledging it._

"_Punch it soldier!" Yoshimo ordered one of the Guard and the man launched the pod into space…_

…_and everything went nuts._

_The **Dawn of War**, the battlecruiser they were on, exploded just as the escape pod cleared it but to the horror of the occupants in the pod, a huge black hole started to spread out from the stricken starship._

_It was obvious what had happened. Someone had caused the warp core of the frigate to rupture and caused a warp-real space overlap. Anything dragged into the warp gets trapped in there for an indefinite time where it might be torn to pieces, remain in mint condition, horribly mutated and diseased or strengthened and granted inhuman strength. No definite theory or law can define or be applied in the realm of Immaterium; it is as chaotic as the creatures that inhabit it. _

_The occupants felt their pod decelerate and, just as everyone dreaded, got pulled right into the rapidly expanding blackness. Their fate rested on whoever watching over them…_

**Sakura Taisen Universe**

**Teito, Japan**

Before he even regained his consciousness, Icharus felt numbness and pain at the same time. Not just ordinary pain. It was the type of pain u felt when u slept on your arm for hours upon hours and after you finally let your blood through, that kind of fiery sensation. Except that, this time Icharus felt it all over, his brain, his heart, his lungs, his limbs and even the hair on his body felt it.

"Oww…" The man groaned as he felt his blood starting to flow through his veins. It was as if he was in suspended animation for a long time. It was then he remembered what had happened before.

He sat up with a start and checked for missing limbs or body parts.

He was relieved.

He seemed to be still human and everything looked and felt fine but he wasn't taking any chances and pulled a small mirror out.

A man who looked to be in his late teens with smooth, handsome features, slightly messy black hair stared back at him.

_Good. I don't look like a mutant._

The only thing bothered him about his looks was his eyes. They were dark red and he knew they would glow slightly at night. It had been a gift from his dark masters (former) to inspire fear and let him see better in the dark and he found it annoying that even though he had forsaken his loyalty and their taint (a difficult and trying feat which he rather not recall), their more permanent "gifts" did not go away. However, some of the gifts he did appreciate, like faster reflexes to name one.

He checked his equipment. His black flak armor was still in one piece and he had lost his helmet. The bolter pistol he had on his side was functional as far as he could tell and he had no grenades left. His radio was busted beyond repair and his utility belt was empty, meaning he had no extra ammo left. Then he glanced at the familiar object at his left side.

A power sword hung from his sword belt, his first and most prized (prized for its usefulness more than anything sentimental) reward, given to him by the creature that had tried to bite his head off. Ancient runes were carved onto the flat side and close to the tip of the black blade. They said, "Death Singer" in some language he didn't know. The blade had lost the malice and corruption it once held, therefore reducing it to be nothing more than a harder-to-break and more-durable-than-normal power sword. Nevertheless, he flicked on the activation rune and the sword hummed and crackled satisfactorily with energy.

Lastly, he felt for the pendant hanging on his neck and was grateful to whatever gods that kept it there.

After finishing checking up on himself and satisfied that the travel through the warp had miraculously spared him, he looked around for the others that he had escaped with…

…and found no one.

He was in a small, dirty alley made of bricks and mortar and besides the pile of untidy bags of rubbish around him; there was no sign of the others or the escape pod.

Recollection of his last conscious moments hit him…

_...The pod shook violently as the warp took them into its unholy anus, preparing to send the unfortunate occupants into a realm of absolute shitty circumstances. It wasn't long when parts of the pod began to crumple and some of the occupants began twisting and writhing painfully as mutation occurred within their cell structures. It wasn't long before the blackness reached him and stabbed him like a million knives. Unconsciousness was a welcome when it finally came but not before he saw the pod completely disintegrated and most of its occupants transforming into beasts as hideous as the Tyranids…_

Shaking his head, Icharus mumbled a short "Rest in peace" to the Imperial Guard that had been with him. He didn't know them well enough to feel any sadness or remorse but he did feel that it was a waste of lives. They did survive until the end after all. It appeared that fate was a fickle bitch as always, not that he had anything to complain about. He had survived a trip through the warp with no protection at all and lived after all. A miraculous feat, that he was sure, that had never been achieved before.

_First things first: Keep a low profile, find out where I am, steal a shuttle and disappear from the face of the galaxy._

He nodded at his fine plan and hastened outside the stinking alley, only to be greeted by screams of terror.

At first he had thought that someone, unlikely as it may be, had recognized him and was about to draw his sword when he saw what the majority of screaming, pathetic citizens were pointing at.

About two hundred meters ahead, four towering humanoid machines, ugly enough to make even the Eldar Wraithlords1 look like super models, were marching towards a young woman and her child, both too scared to run away.

The machines were greenish; with long muscular arms hanging at their sides. The monsters body was completely covered in armor plating, exposing only their upper arms, fingers, thighs and feet. There were no heads; each had a neck terminating at some sort of a snout with a vent-like square for a face. Each was hulked down by a bulky device on their backs. He couldn't tell which side these machines were from as they looked too finely made to be Ork2 vehicles, too crude to be made of Eldar wraithbone, too clean and not sinister looking enough to be Chaos3 and definitely not one belonging to the Imperials. The Tau4 seemed to be a possibility but the design was too dissimilar to the Tau battlesuits.

All four of the monstrous hulks carried a katana and the one nearest to the mother and child raised its sword arm as if ready to strike.

Three cracks were heard and the leading machine's face exploded with a geyser of green, sticky liquid. They also served as a wake-up call for the mother and child as they finally realized that staying equals dying sooner.

Icharus smiled to himself as he observed his shots but slapped his face as he realized what he had done.

_What happened to keeping a low profile you dimwit!_

He lost his smile when the three machines started to roar in anger and bounded towards him in huge strides.

"Say 'Hi' to Mommy you fools!" Icharus yelled and fired three more bursts, each burst aimed towards their respective targets.

Two more went down with a fancy display of green fountains forming at their snouts but the last one managed to dodge the bullets intended for him.

Icharus fired one more three-round-burst and holstered his pistol as the machine dodged it again. He drew 'Death Singer' with glee and powered it, eager for close combat.

The machine reached Icharus and swung its katana in a wide arc, attempting to sever his head. Battle-honed instincts made him duct at the last moment and while the machine recovered from his swing, Icharus swung his sword at a similar arc, separating the machine's upper and lower torso. The thing went down with a dying shriek, spraying green juices everywhere.

He observed his handiwork with silent approval whilst allowing the adrenaline to run out of his veins and figured that he should scram before the officials come.

Just as that thought had come to him, he was startled to see a rather huge shadow overlapping his own. He spun around as fast as he could, barely blocking a downward slash aiming to split him in two.

The force of the swing brought him to his knees and he saw three more of the machines standing over him. Two of them raised their katanas for the finishing blow while the third kept the weight of its katana on his own sword, pinning him at the spot.

_Fate! You bi…_

Before he finished his mental complaint, something flew over his head and bowled the three machines over.

Icharus blinked and realized that someone had used one of the bodies of the machines he had killed as a bowling ball. Not sure whether whoever who did what they did were friend or foe, he swung around to meet them.

Another machine stood a few meters off behind him but it was different than the ones he was fighting.

It was a robot, almost comical with its stout and rounded features and painted in brown. He could see steam pipes extending from its sides, connected to a pack on the back which expelled large quantities of steam. There was dual optics on grooves that lined the bulbous head. One of it slid to focus on the baffled soldier.

"Get to safety citizen! Let the Teigoku Kakegidan take care of this!" A rough female voice commanded through a loudspeaker before the manned machine went to finish off the downed machines, pummeling effectively into pieces with its fists and claws.

What she said was complete nonsense to him.

_The Imperial Floral Assault Group? **Floral** Assault Group? Did some general bang his head or something? Or has the Emperor5 finally gone mad?_

Outwardly he just shrugged and ran the opposite direction, glad that he could get away and that he might still be able to keep some kind of a low profile.

But Fate decided to continue acting like a sour puss.

A humongous man with sickly blue and greenish skin tones and oversized muscles looked down at him as if he were as insignificant as an ant.

"Look out! Get away!" Another female voice shouted frantically from Icharus' right and he looked briefly at the pink robot which had mysteriously appeared at that direction.

The giant grinned when Icharus looked back and swatted him away with the back of his hand effortlessly as if Icharus were just a grain of sand.

_Huh?_

Those were his last thoughts as he felt his body collided painfully with the stone walls on the street opposite and darkness took him.

* * *

Definition of terms:

Note I will not give a nice clear definition cuz I am lazy to look up the stuff and don't really want to typethem out but I'll give a** very** basic idea of what it is.

1Eldar Wraithlord: Eldar are basically space Elves. Wraithlords are their walker machines piloted by a dead warrior.

2Orks: Space Orcs

3Chaos: Ultimate bad guys in the Warhammer 40k universe. Basically a side with daemons, monsters, heretics and so forth.

4Tau: Alien that fights for the Greater Good. Humanoid but with hooves and longer skulls.

5Emperor: Referring to the Emperor of Man in the Warhammer 40k universe.

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**Some more notes**

You guys probably might wonder why Icharus understands Jap. I'll explain it in later chapters if I don't forget haha. Hope you enjoyed this so far.


	3. Attempted Escape

**Disclamer:** I own nothing. Just Icharus McKenzie.

**Author's note**

Hmm, turned out longer than I thought. About 4 hours of work in here hehe. Enjoy.

**Greyhound Master**: Hey thanks for the first review. Woah, I never knew that song. SadlySakura Warsstuff is kinda hard to find. Just got hooked recently. What a coincidence. I'm a huge Reni fan hahaha.

* * *

The redhead looked worriedly at the still figure on the bed, observing his chest rise up and down with steady breaths. Although the man looked and sounded perfectly healthy, she couldn't bring herself to leave his bedside. After all, just a day ago, she had indulged in her rage and had proceeded to pummel the Wakijis into the ground instead of making sure that the civilian got to safety, albeit a strange civilian this one turned out to be.

The muscular young woman couldn't help herself inspecting the young man on the bed as she fluffed and smoothed imaginary imperfectness of his pillow or blanket whilst he slept. The young man's facial features, she noted with some disapproval at herself, was attractive and unique in its own way. She observed with interest that although he looked Caucasian, he had some features identifying he had Oriental or Middle-Eastern roots. She could not specifically point out which feature belonged to which ancestry but it seemed that someone had plucked the best features of every ethnic group and the end result was him. His hair was a mess of spikes, resembling Ohgami's but with a chaos factor of 200. Even though it looked that way, it seemed to be organized in its own way, making it tidy at the same time. The paradox of it made her frown at her own observations.

Just as she puzzled over this, there was a knock on the door and a young man and woman walked in.

"Kanna…" The man began but he was cut off as the young woman in a purple kimono that slid past the tip of her shoulders cut in front of him and stood in front of the seated redhead with a haughty pose.

"How long are you going to blame yourself?" she hissed at the redhead, "considering that an ape could even feel guilty at all!" She added with some poison in her tone.

Kirishima Kanna's head snapped up with fire in her eyes but they were doused as soon as she saw the expression Sumire had on her face. The normally high and mighty air the young aristocrat had was now non-existent, only a concerned friend stood in her place.

She sighed. "I know but I just can't help it. I just felt"

Ohgami Ichiro who had been silent in a while stood forward, placing a hand on Kanna's shoulder. "Look Kanna, you've been looking after this guy for a whole day now. You've missed all your meals and this isn't like you at all."

"Showei is right! You're the one who are supposed to be the one with the unlimited optimism!" Sumire chimed in.

"But…"

"No buts! Don't you know…" Ohgami silenced Sumire with a wave of his hand, sensing the frustrated aristocrat was about to lose her temper. Sumire acknowledged her mistake and clamped up, trying to calm down.

"Look Kanna," Ohgami began with his tone warm and smooth, "do you think stressing yourself out to the point of collapse would make the man feel better?"

"No…" she admitted reluctantly.

"Come on, let's grab something to eat."

"Yes! Listen to showei! I'll take care of our charge while you go." Sumire piped in eagerly.

Kanna nodded and allowed her to be pulled up from the chair by her young captain. "You're right… I **am** a bit hungry." She said with a weak smile, causing Ohgami to chuckle.

"Just don't kill the man while I'm gone snake-woman. That poisonous tongue of yours can be deadly." Kanna said before the door shut behind her and Ohgami causing Sumire to grow red and curse under her breathe. However, she was happy that her friend at least got her ape side back.

* * *

In the hall, Kanna and Ohgami saw Maria Tachibana, vice-captain of the Teigoku Kakegidan Hanagumi, standing with her back to the wall, apparently waiting for Ohgami as she was fixing her emerald eyes on him. Kanna excused herself automatically and headed for the kitchen as she knew that both of them probably had some important issues to discuss. She was rather sure it was about the unconscious man she had carried back in her guilt. 

"Taicho," Maria greeted him.

"What is it Maria?"

"Do you think it is a good idea to harbor this man?"

"Why not? He did save some civilians if the information I got was accurate."

"I know but his equipment…his gear and his weapons are…"

Ohgami sighed, knowing full well what she meant. The odd person that Kanna had brought back to the theater for treatment was carrying weapons that are not allowed in the city limits but in addition to that, the stuff he carried were all alien to him. Even Kohran had a fit of disbelief and joy when she got hold of them. Right now she was stuck in her room trying to figure out how they were made.

"I know what you are trying to say Maria. He could be an enemy and we have led him right into our base and that could be a threat but Manager Yoneda had approved of this already. We just have to trust the manager."

Maria looked unconvinced and the two debated quietly in the hallway until the impending chaos that would ensue in a few moments.

* * *

Iris floated for a while above the Teigeki. She giggled as she weaved in and out the fluffy white clouds and saw the birds flew around her. It had been some time since she last did this. However, it was not really her that was floating but her conscious mind. It wasn't long before she got bored and decided to return to her body when the idea struck her. She whispered an apology to Maria for breaking her promise again and swooped down from the sky like a bird of prey into the mind of the now immobile Icharus McKenzie. 

Every person's mind differs from each other, these differences are subtle in some while others may have oceans of differences but this mind was something that Iris had never encountered before. Usually, while diving into a person's mind, she would encounter their surface thoughts first and then what she called the biography layer where an individual's subconscious definitions of self is laid out neatly for a psychic observer to read through. It was the perfect venue to find out about the unconscious man's name, personality, likes, dislikes, hobbies and the rest.

The little blonde remembered the first time she took a look at her onichan's, Ohgami Ichiro, head. After she got passed the initial layers of him thinking about how cute Sakura was, she arrived at a mental parade ground with rows upon rows of Ohgamis standing at attention. It was a fitting image as Ohgami was military and had a highly organized mind. She remembered finding it fun that the Ohgami copies each answered different questions about him.

Iris had half expected that the man a few rooms down the hall would have a mind similar to Ohgami's given that he looked slightly military to her. Instead, after floating pass absolutely little to no surface thoughts, she arrived at a desolate and arid waste land. The place disappointed and bugged her simultaneously. It looked as if the person had no personality, name or anything to identify him at all.

Refusing to give up, she decided to explore a bit but first things first. She conjured up some clothing for her naked spectral form, just in case. A pair of brownish shorts, a shirt with multiple pockets and a helmet magically appeared on her and, satisfied with her look, she set off in her little adventure.

It didn't take long for her to spot several dark figures spread across the horizon, a huge distance separating from each other. Iris was beginning to think that this mysterious person had purposefully spread out his mind. Deciding that the previous thought was ridiculous, she started towards the figure that seemed closest.

Again it wasn't long until she got to him and she saw the man leaning on his sword in a relaxed manner, eyes looking distant. Iris tried to look for anything to identify this figure's purpose. In Ohgami's case, he had badges sewn on his mental copies' shirts that identified the information the copy had. In the stranger's case, there was nothing.

Frustrated, Iris decided to try her luck.

"Who are you?" She asked timidly, a bit intimidated by the wicked looking sword.

"Icharus McKenzie." He answered, and then the man called Icharus looked thoughtful before continuing, "Traitor."

Iris was both delighted and confused at the same time. Delighted that she was lucky enough to find the copy that identifies him and confused that he had said his occupation was a traitor. It didn't make any sense.

"When were you born?" She ventured further.

"Imperial or Tau?"

"Huh? Umm… Imperial?" Iris assumed that Icharus was referring to the Imperial Japanese calendar.

"December 25th, 40,669."

"40,669? Is that in hours or seconds?" Iris mused to herself.

"Year," the stranger answered and added with a menacing tone, "and that is all you will ever need to know psyker(4)."

The last response startled Iris as the copies never responded like that before and she saw with horror as Icharus pulled the sword out from the ground and swung it at her.

With a shriek Iris fell backwards, narrowly avoiding the slash and tried to crawl away. Unfortunately, to her dismay, there were millions of Icharus McKenzies behind her, all marching slowly towards her, sneering and laughing at her, their swords ringing as they dragged them on the ground.

The first one caught her hair and turned her back to face him and Iris stared into his dark red eyes which she had mistaken to be brown a while ago.

"Get out." He whispered and his tone was deadly.

"Huh?" She whimpered in shock, not knowing what to answer.

"GET OUT NOW!" The millions of Icharus screamed in rage like in some deranged opera with unbearable loudness. Iris screamed along and her spirit was unceremoniously ejected from his mind.

* * *

Maria and Ohgami were interrupted when an earsplitting shriek came from Iris' room. 

"Iris!" they both yelled and rushed to the girl's room.

The moment they slammed the door open, ready to defend the girl when they found Iris in tears and shivering with fear alone. Jean-Paul, her favorite bear, was crushed tightly in her terrified arms.

"Iris! What's wro…" Before Maria could finish her question, another scream rang across the hall. It sounded like Sumire.

"Take care of Iris!" Maria ordered Ohgami and pulled out her gun as she rushed towards the stranger's temporary quarters and kicked the door open.

* * *

Icharus tried to choke the life out of his would-be-interrogator as soon as he had woken up after chasing out the psyker from his head. He had expected the psyker to be the one next to his bed but instead he found an older brunette. He didn't think too much, psykers could alter their spiritual appearances probably anyway. His first priority now was to escape whatever facility that held him. 

Just as he felt the life starting to slip away from the girl whose neck he held in a death grip. The door burst open and he knew he had to abort, immediately springing from his bed and behind the brunette, his arm over her tortured neck. The girl gasped for air and tried to struggle but she was helpless against his iron grip.

A blonde woman with sharp eyes pointed what looked like a gun at his head from the doorway but he darted behind the girl, using her as a shield. He was surprised that it wasn't a Space Marine(1), an Imperial Guard(2) or even the city Prefects(3) that had come in through the door but he was cautious nevertheless.

"Let Sumire go!" The blonde ordered.

Icharus remained silent, his mind raced to find an escape point. He backed away with Sumire in front of him and glanced at the window behind him. He was about two or three stories above the ground below. Jumping out would have been an option if he still had his old powers but it would be suicide for him now. Cursing under his breath, he edged forward again, knowing that his escape relied on getting past the blonde and he needed a distraction.

Maria watched as the stranger moved back and forth and she guessed what he was thinking and she wasn't going to allow him to get pass her. She checked on Sumire. She was pale with shock and was gasping, sucking at whatever little air that her assailant's hold allowed through her throat.

Maria heard hurrying footsteps behind her and shifted her view for a split second. It was Shinguji Sakura and she had Arataka with her. Good, she needed her help. But what she didn't expect was that Sakura slipped just on the verge of reaching her and crashed into the blonde.

"Eeeeyaaaaa!" Sakura shrieked as they both went down in a tumble at the doorway. Maria growled in frustration as she tried to sit up and push Sakura off her when the stranger made his move.

Icharus roared with delight as he pushed the light Sumire onto the heap of bodies at the doorway. The young women cried out in pain when the extra weight came down and Icharus took his chance to bolt away down the hall, only to encounter a tall, muscular redhead.

"Stop him Kanna!" Icharus heard the blonde yell behind him.

Kanna dropped the steamed buns she was holding and assumed a fighting stance he was unfamiliar with as he barreled down towards her.

He felt the kick aiming for his head coming before he saw it and he let himself fall backwards during his run as soon as the redhead's foot left the ground. Momentum carried him forward as he slid under the astonished woman and he tripped her with his left arm. The young woman went down with a crash and he got to his feet quickly, racing down the hallway again.

Just as he thought things were going good, a door opened at the end of the hall and a girl in purple hair and huge spectacles stepped out of the room. In her arms, she cradled "Death Singer".

"What's going on out…? Eeek!" The girl with twin pigtails screamed as Icharus grabbed her right arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her to drop "Death Singer". He pushed her effortlessly away and scooped the sword up. Spotting a nearby stairwell, he bounded towards it, eager to make his escape.

At the base he encountered another young woman, another redhead with her hair tied in a bun and wearing a military uniform of unknown origins. Behind her stood an old man with two tiny round spectacles sitting on his nose and he carried a sword on his left hip.

Fearing reinforcements, Icharus did what he could only think off. He grabbed the woman, spun her around and had his sword by her throat in a mere instant. He heard footsteps coming from the stairs and he backed away from the surprised old man and from the stairwell entrance, not wanting to be surrounded and attacked from the back.

"Wait!" The old man said, looking as if he desperately needed to say something. He wasn't allowed to finish when the group of young women upstairs had all assembled in front of the old man, facing him with murderous intent. The blonde girl, to Icharus' surprise, was there too.

"Come any closer and the hostage loses her head!" He threatened the small crowd. He saw the flicker of uncertainty in their faces.

_Good. They care about their comrades._

"Let Ayame-san go!" The blonde with the gun demanded again as she turned off the safety of her gun.

"And let you shoot me with whatever you are holding? Think not!" He barked defiantly. "Put down your weapons and let me out of here or this Ayame has to learn how to walk without a head!" To emphasize his point he pressed the blade of his sword on his hostage's neck, leaving a line of crimson.

"I'll kill you for this!" The one called Kanna screamed, barely able to restrain herself.

Icharus answered by pressing the blade deeper, causing Ayame to groan.

"Everyone! Stop it! You're not helping Ayame here!" A voice yelled from behind the crowd. It was the old man.

"But manager!" The girls cried out.

"I'll handle this myself! No one interfere!" He ordered, his tone left no room for objectios.

He pushed himself forward and looked Icharus in the eye.

"There's no reason to fight. Put down your weapon Icharus!"

Icharus blinked in surprise. _Had the girl told her master?_

He glanced at the young psyker. She looked as surprised as he was so he dismissed the possibility. His gaze went back to the old man, trying to think why he looked so familiar.

The old man sighed, "39 years is quite a long time. I'm not surprised that you don't recognize me anymore." The old man grunted and pulled up his right sleeve to reveal a shark tattoo on his wrinkled skin located on his upper arm, close to where his arm joined his shoulders.

Icharus dropped his sword, to the surprise of everyone else, and stared at the old man who grinned and made his age fade a bit.

_Yoshimo?_

* * *

(1) Space Marines: Superhuman soldiers of the Imprium of Man

(2)Imperial Guard: Normal soldiers of the Imperium of Man

(3)Prefects: Men and women who keep the peace in a city, a.k.a police who would shoot first and ask questions later. No such thing as protect the innocent.

(4)Psyker: Psychics in Warhammer 40k

* * *

Hmm, think I made everyone look bad. Oh well, they were caught by surprise anyway.

Feel free to drop questions in the review box. Thank you.


	4. New Member

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except Icharus McKenzie.

**Author's Notes:**

Oh shoot. I forgot to type in a few words in the last chapter. When Yoneda spoke to Icharus at the end, he said those words in Low Gothic which is the common language of the humans in Warhammer 40,000. Can't think of what else to say. Hope u enjoy this part.

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"For the twentieth time, Kanna, stop tapping the floor! I don't need a headache right now!" Sumire whined as she rubbed her neck where two red, angry, hand-shaped marks adorned her skin. 

"Sorry… it's just that I'm not comfortable with that man alone with the manager. Who knows what he might do." Kanna muttered through gritted teeth.

The rest of the Hanagumi remained silent. They were all worried about the same thing.

Two hours ago, Manager Yoneda had practically invited the stranger with open arms into his office in spite of what he had done. Of course the Hanagumi objected furiously but it was no use. Yoneda even posted Ayame outside his office with orders to not let anyone near the office.

Now, all seven members, including Ohgami, gathered at the medical bay at a loss of what to do.

"I can't believe the manager actually forbade us to restrain or even disarm him." Kohran grumbled as she adjusted the sling that held her right arm which had suffered a sprain during her encounter with Icharus. "There's something fishy going on around here, right Maria-han?" The genius scientist turned to look at her vice-captain leaning at the doorway.

A slight nod was Maria's only answer. Her dissatisfaction about the situation was obvious.

"I wonder what provoked him to attack us." Sakura said out loud, more to herself than to the others but it didn't mean they didn't hear her.

"It doesn't matter why! The maniac tried to kill me! Nothing can justify that!" Sumire practically screamed in her outrage, launching her into a fit of coughs as she strained her throat. Ohgami patted her back and quickly gave her some water, gently telling her to calm down.

"I just hope the manager is ok," Ohgami mused aloud changing the subject back to the original.

"And why wouldn't I be ok Ohgami? You want me dead so soon? Young people these days," a gruff, familiar voice said from outside the doorway.

"Manager Yoneda! Are you all right?" Everyone said in unison.

"Why wouldn't I be? I don't remember being in danger at all." Ikki Yoneda replied in feigned ignorance.

"Where is that maniac sir?" Kanna asked in barely controlled anger.

"Calm down Kanna. He's back in his room and he's got a name too you know."

His answer baffled everyone and they began to look at each other in disbelief.

"Manager! How can you talk as if nothing happened! Sumire almost got killed today, not to mention he threatened to kill Ayame!" Maria growled in anger.

Yoneda sighed. It was going to take some effort to calm down his subordinates. He turned to Iris and smiled at her.

"Iris, why don't you tell everyone our guest's name?"

"Wait! Iris knows his name?" Ohgami blurted in disbelief.

Iris nodded timidly, unsure whether to speak or not. Maria's obvious look of displeasure meant she was in trouble later. Yoneda gave her an encouraging nod.

"He said his name was Icharus McKenzie. The other stuff, Iris doesn't understand."

"When did you talk to him Iris? I don't remember him waking up long enough to…" then a thought hit the young captain, "Oh."

Yoneda nodded. "Yes. Iris was inside his mind just before all this madness occurred."

"But I don't understand. What does this have anything to do with this Icharus going homicidal all of the sudden?"

Yoneda sighed again. Now the hard part came. He recited the lies and half-truths he was about to tell his beloved children in his mind and hoped they would forgive him if the truth ever came out. After all, no one had to know who Icharus really was, just as no one had to know who he really was too.

_First the half-truths._

"Icharus is a man on the run," he began. "For years there are people and forces hunting for him relentlessly. Most of them hunted him because he had betrayed them, some hunt him because of the people he had killed directly or indirectly and others hunt him because he was personally responsible for thwarting their plans."

"He fears none of them except one group which I cannot name. Suffice to say that they were the first people he betrayed and if caught, their psychic interrogators will pry open his mind like a coconut and make him spill his secrets. After that, they will torture him for the remainder of his days."

"Iris' presence in his head made him think that his mind was being invaded," Yoneda gestured at Iris, "To avoid his fate, it is not strange at all that he would wish to kill anyone around him and escape."

Yoneda's words caused Iris to turn pale.

"So…so it was my fault? I almost got Sumire killed?" She stammered, almost in tears.

"Now, now… It's not your fault Iris. Curiosity is good for one such as young as you." Yoneda patted the little girl attempting to comfort her.

A veil of silence was cast onto the group as they let Yoneda's words sink in.

Now that they had some understanding as to why it had all happened the anger the Hanagumi felt subsided a bit. Not everyone was satisfied with Yoneda's answer, however. Maria was one.

"Manager, what did he actually do to warrant this amount of hatred? I cannot think of any organizations, lawful or unlawful, to go to such extremes to hunt one person." The Russian pointed out.

Yoneda chuckled, "Nothing much escapes you huh, Maria. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about who are hunting Icharus and the exact reasons. All you need to know is that Icharus has done much to make him worthy of the wrath of these people. If it weren't for the fact that he had saved my life before and redeemed himself when he fought for the side of justice once more, I would not be defending him now. I hope you will understand."

"No I don't! From what you say, this person seems to have a nasty habit of changing loyalties. How can you expect us to trust him? He might just as easily turn on you and all of us." Sumire objected, refusing to believe that her assailant was anything associated with law and justice.

A wiry grin crossed Yoneda's lips, "You are all entitled to your opinions towards Icharus but you would have to learn to trust and accept him sooner or later."

"What do you mean sir?" Sakura asked, obviously confused about his last statement.

"As of this moment, Icharus McKenzie is formerly the eighth member of the Teigoku Kakegidan Hanagumi."

* * *

Icharus dumped the last dictionary he had read for the past hour onto the floor of his quarters and felt the words and their definitions rumbling inside his head. The Tau didactic implants he had had as a youth was working its magic, allowing him to master the Japanese language just as he read them. 

Although he had come into contact with a similar language in his own dimension, it had been incomplete. Lost to the ravages of time as those few who could even remember how to speak it continue to dwindle in numbers thanks to the influence of the Imperium.

Sergeant Yoshimo, now Lieutenant General Ikki Yoneda, had suggested that he mastered the language if he were to fit in.

_Fitting in_. The thought of it made him cringe as he remembered the conversation with Yoneda about three hours ago.

After surviving the murderous glances from the mob of young women, Yoneda had led him into his office and told him things that had made him question the former sergeant's sanity.

Apparently, the travel through the Warp had not simply dumped the unfortunate crew on the escape pod on some remote planet as Icharus had first thought. Not only were they sent back into time, about forty millenniums give or take one or two millenniums, they were thrown into a completely different reality. What more? He was on Terra, birthplace and homeworld of all human kind.

Icharus had no doubt that Yoneda was telling the truth, he had the facts to prove it anyway. The obvious backwardness of the current technology, the fact that the map of the world looked exactly like Terra and the fact that they had such an advanced steam technology which never existed in his own reality to his knowledge.

There was more however. Not everyone exited the Warp at the same time. Sergeant Yoshimo had been thrown into this reality 39 years ago in relative to the current reality's timeline and during that time he adopted the identity of Ikki Yoneda (how he did this he did not elaborate, much to Icharus' relief) and a personality that grated at Icharus' nerves.

The former strict, blockheaded sergeant was treating the youth like he was some long lost friend to which Icharus found both annoying and repulsive. After all, to Icharus, Yoneda had been someone who would have been gladder to shoot him in the head for being a heretic once he had the chance than offer him a friendly hug just a day ago. Now he was a tearful, happy old man who was relieved to finally see someone he knew in a past life. Apparently, 39 years living in a world where war and worshipping the Emperor was not the norm of the day had somehow colored the former sergeant's view of him and changed the man into something new, something different.

Something resembling an old and senile chatterbox who seemed to find the bottom of his sake bottle more wondrous than anything else.

What happened later irritated him to even greater lengths.

The Chimera, the purple crystal he had almost lost his life over to steal and the reason why he was thrown into some Warp-damned "other reality" was gone. Stolen, perhaps, by the brute that had attacked him after his arrival, Yoneda had said.

To make matters worse, the brute belonged to an organization called the Kuronoskai which, in his own opinion, wasn't so different to the demented Chaos cults in his old reality. It meant that he had no idea who his enemy was. It also meant that he needed help from the locals which seemed to be suspiciously what Yoneda had in mind all along because he was all too eager to lend him his help.

The reason the cheeky old man had provided was that the Chimera was too dangerous to be left in the hands of demon worshippers or those who toyed with the dark arts. A sound one but something just didn't feel right and Icharus hated surprises.

However, Yoneda did give him a pleasant one. Contrary to Icharus' view of the old man (a retired military man who still held his rank and sinking in booze and women of his private harem he called a theater), Yoneda was actually the commander of a secret organization with a questionable name.

Frankly, sunshines and rainbows did not go well with Icharus and calling a division as the _Flower Division_ made him grimace unconsciously. To being unable to decline the offer to join the squad made him wanted to hack the smiling and aloof Yoneda as he agreed.

Pushing the memories of his ordeal with the Lieutenant General aside, Icharus got out of bed and out of his room, eager for some air.

He found a balcony overlooking the street outside to be a perfect spot to relax after some exploration. He let out sigh as he rested his arms on the banisters and observed the people like a child observing an ant farm: amusing but pointless.

The soft rustle of cloth behind him informed him of someone's presence behind him.

He ignored it.

He heard the sound of someone softly tapping his or her foot on the ground.

He ignored it again.

Then, there was a small polite cough which sounded female and young.

He ignored it again.

"Ano…" A girl's voice said.

He yawned and continued ignoring the person or persons behind him. He grinned as he felt that they were becoming nervous and restless. It had been some time since he had nervous subordinates trying to attract his attention. He couldn't help playing with them for a while.

The sounds of whispering confirmed his guess that there were at least two people behind him.

"Ano McKenzie-san," the girl began again, obviously unsure whether she should talk to him at all.

This time he turned around and found the 'the girl who had tripped' and 'the psyker' standing side by side and avoiding his gaze but obviously with something to say.

He raised an eyebrow.

_This is getting nowhere. Better break the ice._

"Icharus McKenzie. And you two lovely ladies are…?" He began, offering his hand.

"Shinguji Sakura." The pony tailed girl replied quickly, smiling dashingly at the comment as she shook the offered hand.

Icharus found himself admiring the attractive young girl. She was probably around 18 and sported a traditional look and obviously from good stock. He frowned inwardly at his last phrase; he had better ditch his 'assessing slaves for master's use tonight' mentality if he was going to fit in.

Sakura was blushing when he returned to reality and he realized he had been staring. Turning his attention quickly towards the young blonde girl with her teddy bear, he asked, "And yours?"

"Aeris Chateaubriand" she replied hesitantly, "but everyone calls me Iris."

The young French shook his hand rather timidly and started to say something before she stopped herself. Sakura nudged Iris and the little girl mustered all her courage before she spoke.

"Icharus-san, I am sorry to have entered your mind and caused you trouble."

Icharus was taken aback by the girl's apology. If memory served, she wasn't the one who scared her out of his mind and she wasn't the one who almost strangled her friend to death after all. He felt a bit ashamed, an emotion he had no contact with for years. It seemed that he had more to apologize for than her.

He knelt and brought himself to eye level with Iris. The serious look he had on made the girl shrink back a bit. He reached out and patted her head.

"Apology accepted. But I think I have more to apologize for. I'm sorry for causing **you** so much trouble." He said as he flashed a grin at her causing the girl to go red.

"Besides Jean-Paul here will kick my ass if I don't behave," He whispered with a wink. Iris looked shocked then understanding what happened, smiled in response.

Sakura, seeing the exchange but not understanding it, was just glad that everything turned out nicely.

"So what should we call you McKenzie-san?"

"Just Icharus will do. Unless you want me to call you Shinguji-san."

Sakura shook her head. "Sakura will do McKe… Icharus-san."

"Can Iris call you Onichan?"

"Iris! If you do that, how would we know who you are referring to?" Sakura reminded the girl.

Watching Iris struggling to think of a term to call him, Icharus sighed.

"What about just Eike?" he suggested, recalling his nickname

The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! Eike-onichan! Iris will call you Eike-Onichan!"

The other two chuckled at the little girl's innocence.

"So, Sakura and Iris, now that is decided," he nodded to each of them. "Who's going to show me around this place?"

To his astonishment, each girl grabbed one of his arms and pulled him along, chattering excitedly as they introduced him to every thing about their imperial theater.

"They sure warmed up to him easily," Kohran commented, amused at Sakura and Iris' ability to act so familiarly to a stranger, even one who was hostile before, so easily. "You still think he's dangerous?"

Kanna shrugged. Maria, on the other hand, was silent as usual but the deadly glint in her eyes had diminished significantly.

* * *

**End notes:**

I'm sorry if it this first part turns out too long. Will branch into Sakura Wars story after Icharus finally gets initiated. Should take 1 more chapter or so I think.

Finally finished this part. R&R pls.


	5. Meeting Basically Everyone

**Author's Notes**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sakura Wars or Warhammer 40,000.

Finally finished writing this part and it's a bit long. Couldn't update at all because I had tons of projects to do and now exams are just a few days away.

**Murasame****Warrior** Well, I'm trying not to make them too buddy-buddy too quickly. After all, he **was** a bad guy hehe.

**Hesquidor: **What's a Gary-Stu self insert? Anyway, thanks for reading my fic. Warn me if I get to that level.

* * *

"So how old are you Icharus-san?" 

"Seventeen."

_Plus 283 of course._

"Wow! Really? You are as old as Kohran and me!"

"I don't believe you Icharus-han, you don't feel seventeen."

He scowled.

"Hahahaha! Onichan's face is so funny."

"It's not and I AM seventeen."

"Alright we believe you Icharus-han." Kohran giggled.

Icharus scowled again and it caused Iris bursting in laughter again.

"Icharus-san, why are your eyes red?" Sakura asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah! I noticed it too. Did you peek into the women's bath too many times?" Kohran teased.

"Wh-what?"

"He's stammering. I think we hit something."

"What? Onichan is a peeper? No! Iris won't allow it!"

"What? No! It's not like that!"

And the conversation continued on with Icharus defending his name and wondering what peepers are at the same time.

The Hanagumi, including Icharus but minus Sumire, Maria, Ohgami and Kanna were all at the dining room, grilling the poor youth with questions and waiting for Kanna to finish cooking.

Earlier in the day, while exploring the theater with his two guides, Icharus had bumped into Kohran who was fumbling with the doorknob and carrying a huge pile of gadgets on her good arm. Accepting one of Yoneda's earlier advices telling him to get along with the other members, he had helped the bespectacled Chinese through her door. As a bonus, he twisted her arm to a weird and painful angle causing the inventor to at first react angrily but later thank him as she felt the painful sprain she had had magically healed.

After that little incident, Kohran found herself tagging along the little tour group and befriending their new and bizarre member easily. Icharus was easier to approach than she had first thought. With his drop-dead good looks which rivaled Ohgami's and his often quirky and humorous (but suspiciously unintended) comments, it was hard to want to keep him at arm's length.

When Iris and Sakura excused themselves to head towards the kitchen to help Kanna, Kohran saw her chance to ask Icharus about some of his gear.

"Umm… Icharus-han, I was wondering if I can ask you a few questions about your gear. They are nothing like I've seen before."

"Huh? What about?" he answered, still a bit confused by the conversation before.

"Your sword, I detected some energy from it with one of my instruments and I figured out where the power switch is but I can't activate it."

Icharus' expression warmed as if Kohran had mentioned someone dear to him. "Ah… _Death Singer_. It can only be powered up by me. It's made to recognize its owner and I wouldn't recommend powering it up anyway. It can slice through your thickest armor like air given the right conditions."

"To generate enough energy to do that, I estimate it needs a lot of power but I don't see any place to fit a power source."

Icharus raised his eyebrow in amusement. "It would take a huge steam engine to even try to power my sword if you are thinking in terms of the technology you have access to. No, my sword uses a much different power source. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much more."

"A secret?" Kohran said, disappointed.

"Nope, I don't know how it works too. Some people I worked for a long time ago made it for me and I never bothered asking them how it works. I used to be able to strengthen the sword even more with my willpower alone. Now it's just a sword with a power switch." He shrugged helplessly about his last remark.

However, Kohran was more interested about something else. "Willpower huh? I wonder if your sword is anything similar to our Koubus."

"Koubus? You mean those robots you people pilot?"

Kohran nodded excitedly when he inquired about her favorite subject and launched into a lengthy and detailed technical explanation about how the Koubus functioned. Kanna came to the Icharus' rescue when she served dinner: a plateful of rice with rich, spicy smelling golden-colored meat with gravy piled at the side.

"What's this?" Icharus asked, completely clueless of the meal he had been served.

"It's curry." Kanna replied, blinking at his question. She was clearly intrigued that he didn't know that.

The answer cleared up nothing as Icharus examined his supposed meal carefully, wondering if the big redhead was still angry at him for tripping her. Seeing Iris, Sakura and Kohran digging into their meal eagerly, he tested the food with his fork.

"Is there something wrong with my cooking?" An annoyed Kanna demanded. Even though the others had obviously become his buddies, Kanna resolved to not be so easily be brought under his fold. After all, she wasn't so ready to trust someone who was an enemy a few hours ago.

"Uh…no…I've just never seen this before and it smells funny. You sure this is food?" He sniffed the meat on his fork, unsure whether he should put the alien thing into his mouth.

Kanna did it for him eventually as she shoved the fork into his mouth and forced the meat to go down. At first, Icharus looked as if he had swallowed a toad but after a few moments of imaginary agony, he thought it tasted quite good.

It didn't take him long to take one more mouthful, then another and then another until he finished the whole plate and with a stern look, he handed his plate to Kanna.

"More."

Kanna obliged and before she could return to her seat to attack her own meal, the plate was in front of her again.

"More." Icharus said again with a look that seemed to say it was a matter of life and death that he had more curry.

Kanna was impressed. After all, people with big stomachs are respectable, especially those who devour her food so eagerly. She happily gave him another serving which he downed in another minute. When he asked for more again, Kanna let out a big guffaw, her dislike for the teen evaporated.

"You'd better give it a rest cowboy. There are still others who haven't eaten yet." Kanna said in between laughs.

"By others, you mean yourself right Kanna-san?" Sakura poked playfully.

"Hehe… Correct! If he continues to eat like that, there won't be much left for me."

This brought giggles from the girls.

"Too bad then," Icharus sighed as he got up to leave the table. "I guess I'll have to wait for next time."

Before he left, he turned towards Kanna.

"You are very good cook. Best I've seen in years in fact. You're mate must be a very happy person."

"Wha-Whaaa? Mate?" Kanna blushed. "I'm still single and besides I don't think a man would want to be paired up with me."

"Why not? You are a woman are you not?" He cocked an eyebrow as he asked the question. "Anyway, I'll be in my room if I am needed."

"See you later onichan!" Iris called after him as the others mumbled their goodbyes through their stuffed mouths.

_A woman huh? _Kanna thought to herself, unsure why she felt happy that someone besides Ohgami notices that.

* * *

After reaching the level above, Icharus found the tall, sharp-eyed blonde occupying the balcony he was at before. At first he didn't want to bother her but the young woman turned around and beckoned him to come closer. It appeared that she had been waiting for him.

"Mr. McKenzie." She said, her green eyes peering into his red ones as if trying to dig out his secrets.

"Miss Tachibana." He didn't turn away from her gaze and instead admired her beautiful emerald eyes. They were eyes he was familiar with; battle hardened and cold.

_At least they don't look like she wants to kill me anymore._

He remembered how chilling they had looked while she pointed the gun at his head.

"Call me Icharus. I presume you would like to be called Maria as well."

The blonde nodded and the duo was silent. Maria never averted her gaze ad Icharus was feeling a bit impatient. He wasn't a person to feel intimidated by Maria easily.

"Look Maria, whatever you've got to say, please say it before you melt my eyes with yours."

The comment successfully brought a smile from Maria but it wasn't a warm or friendly one. It only showed that she appreciated his humor.

"Fairly charming, no wonder everyone is letting their guard down easily."

"And not you?"

Maria shook her head. "I've seen your types before. One minute you are all smiles and the next you've got a knife in everyone's backs. Besides, you have a lousy habit of betraying your comrades from what the manager told us."

Icharus smirked. "It's good to know that there is at least one of you who think that. I was beginning to wonder how this team ever survived this long. It seems they have a shrewd Vice-captain to look after their backs."

"Don't worry," he continued, "I won't be doing any backstabbing any time soon."

"Not until you've got whatever you want?" Maria asked, sounding wary.

"Possible," he said almost to himself and turned towards the direction of his room.

"Remember that I am watching you Mr. McKenzie. Don't complain when you find my bullet in your back when you make the wrong move."

"As long as you and your team don't get in my way, you won't have anything to fear from me." Icharus replied and continued towards his room. He turned around once more and with a look that gave Maria shivers, he growled softly, "And do not threaten me again Miss Tachibana, unless you value your life."

Maria watched him disappear at the corner and headed downstairs herself.

_Whoever you are Icharus McKenzie, I'll find out sooner or later. _The Russian vowed silently as she approached the dining room.

_Sooner or later._

* * *

Ayame sat down heavily as she looked in disbelief at manager Yoneda.

Ayame had been the only one who knew the truth about Yoneda's true identity since the death of Shinguji Kazuma and the disappearance of Yamazaki Shinnosuke and Yoneda confided in her just as often as she did in him. After all, they were friends and comrades who had been through thick and thin together. Nothing much was a secret between them.

It was no surprise when Ayame wanted to know about Icharus, he obliged by telling her everything he knew about him, which was pitifully few and shocking.

"Advisor to a Champion of Khorne? Leader of over six companies of the Traitor Guard? Personally responsible for the massacre of two hive planets? Sir, please tell me you are joking! Are you telling me that that young man is actually a monster?"

Yoneda nodded grimly rolling a small purplish crystal in the palm of his right hand.

"But there is something I don't understand. I thought all of the favored servants of Chaos are usually granted powers from their patron God. He doesn't look like one of the twisted demons you once told us."

"Icharus is a 'monster' metaphorically. It was the atrocities he committed that made him something no better than a true monster. As of his physical appearance, don't be fooled by it. He may still look seventeen but he's actually 300 years old and his movements and reactions can even make a Space Marine look clumsy and slow."

"I saw him hanging out with Sakura and Iris a moment ago and he doesn't look like he's acting nice."

"That, I don't know. All I know is that he had somehow rejected Chaos' influences and defected out of the blue."

"Why did he do that? Defect, I mean."

Yoneda tossed the bauble he was examining towards Ayame.

"Apparently for this," he added.

"What is it?" Ayame asked as she examined the crystal, feeling strangely warm and reassuring at its touch.

Yoneda shrugged. "All he would tell us is that humanity will forever be destroyed if it falls in the hands of Chaos and I'm not willing to find out if it's true or not. Better to err on the side of caution."

Ayame remained silent as she let it all sink in and thought of what to say, unconsciously flipping the crystal between her fingers and admiring its mystical beauty.

"Sir, you haven't told me how you met him yet."

Yoneda sighed and took a huge mouthful from his sake and remained silent for a few moments. Ayame was beginning to think that he had fallen asleep when he finally spoke.

"I never met the 'evil' Icharus if there is such a difference. The first time I actually met him is during the time my company and I was assaulting the battlecruiser _Dawn of War_ which Icharus had purposefully arranged to fall into our ambush. If we hadn't had direct orders to assist Icharus in obtaining the Chimera, we would have killed him as soon as we laid eyes on him."

"A lot of good men and women died for this puny crystal," Yoneda added with a sad look in his eyes. "All this happened because of Icharus."

"Then why are you allowing him to stay?"

The old man made a crooked smile, "Ironically he was the reason why I'm not dead and we need him. That is why I swiped the crystal while he was unconscious so I could force him to stay, to train and to prepare him and the Hanagumi for the fight ahead. His obsession with the Chimera is probably the only reason he agreed to join us and my only hope is that the Hanagumi would be able to change that."

"But why all this trouble to keep him here sir? The Hanagumi doesn't seem to need another member to combat the current threat."

"That you are wrong my dear friend. We **need** Icharus to fight another threat."

"What threat sir?"

"The threat that followed us here or more accurately that **will** follow us here. Maybe not now but he will come sooner or later. Icharus' arrival now confirms my worst suspicions all these years."

Ayame caught his meaning as she remembered the tales he told her all those years ago.

"You don't mean…"

Yoneda swiveled in his chair and faced Ayame. His face was matted with perspiration and there was genuine fear in his eyes.

"I saw Icharus' former master drop into the Warp with us."

As if to emphasize his point, a tremendous boom shook the building followed by the heavy roar of rainfall.

* * *

A shriek rang down the hallway amidst the din of the roaring rain and thunder, causing both Icharus and Ohgami to spin around towards it just as all the lights in the theater failed, leaving only the small lantern Ohgami held to provide any illumination.

"Was that Iris?" Ohgami asked worriedly.

"Sounds more like Sakura if you ask me," the shorter youth replied.

Ohgami stared at Icharus for a second, wondering how he could tell who the shriek belonged to before he returned to reality and realized what must be done.

"One of us has to see what's wrong and the other one should see to the circuit breaker." The young captain suggested.

"I'll go check the basement. You'll go check on the girls." Icharus said and without another word he headed towards the stairs.

"Wait! It's dark down there!" Ohgami called after him but Icharus only gave him a lazy wave without looking back.

Shrugging to himself, Ohgami headed upstairs from where he and Icharus had just come.

Moments ago, he had asked the red-eyed youth to accompany him in his night patrol so that he could get to know him at the same time. His first impression of the youth was that he was extremely silent until he realized that he was waiting for him to say something. It was pretty awkward at first as Ohgami was more used to having the other person starting the conversation first like with the girls.

They started with a lame and brief introduction of each other and talked about unimportant stuff like the weather before they finally landed on a topic both of them had an interest in: the Hanagumi. Ohgami was glad that Icharus had felt relatively positive about the people he had met so far and despite Maria's warnings, he found the youth likable. After all, anyone who likes the Hanagumi couldn't be a bad person, could they?

Ohgami had not bothered to ask about Icharus' past as he knew that the youth would tell him when he felt like it. It wasn't polite to be asking about people's pasts anyway. Just as he was thinking this, he had reached the first of the girls' rooms and raised his fist to knock.

* * *

Icharus made his way in the dark quite easily thanks to his night vision. It wasn't perfect but he could tell where an obstacle was in the dark and that was enough. Besides, the red emergency lights located some distance between themselves in the basement helped ease matters a bit.

He hadn't walked as fast as he could have as he wanted to take advantage of the current situation. The storm had been a blessing for he was a bit tired of the company of the Hanagumi. Not in a harsh way of course. It was just that he had always preferred the peace of mind that he could only find in solitude. After all, he had spent almost 300 years alone and had gotten used to that fact.

He reached the basement and as he tried to figure out which way the circuit board was located, his mind wandered again.

Not too long ago he was an individual who commanded the lives and deaths of his underlings as easily as a flick of his wrist. Although he had to feign obedience and kowtow to a Chaos Lord with only brawns and muscles for brains all the while, life was rather good. He was ranked relatively high on the food chain and most feared him more than they did his master although he had to suppress such whispers if he wanted to make sure he was completely indispensable in his master's eyes.

Part of him missed it already. Another part of him chastised himself for doing so. After all, one cannot bemoan the lost for what he did not fight to keep. He had made a decision and that was it. No point in regretting.

Even if the decision ended him up in some other reality to flip a switch to bring power back to a flashy theater.

He was in front of a door with a lightning bolt drawn on it and just as he figured he was at the correct place, there was a scream followed by a cry of help and frantic sounds of splashing from up the hallway from where he came.

His first reaction was to grumble under his breath. Screams of help never did bring him any good. It was the root cause that led him to the Chimera, to his defection, to his unwilling journey to this reality and finally to being drafted into a secret task force fighting some evil organization he cared nothing of. He knew something bad will happen if he came to whoever's rescue this time.

_Oh Fate, you spoiled little brat, do you really think I'm gonna walk into your twisted schemes again? Don't mess with me just cuz you're still single and all cranky about it!_

Feeling not even a single shred of guilt, he turned away from the cries and faced the door in front of him. Someone will save the damsel in distress sooner or later. He didn't notice that the screams were getting more desperate every second.

His hand was just turning the knob when the screams stopped abruptly. Puzzled, he listened for a second. Shrugging at the renewed silence he turned the knob fully and was just taking his first step through the portal when a bad feeling chewed at his nerves.

The feeling got worse as he took another step.

_Oh frak it! You win old woman!_

Icharus turned and ran like his life depended on it towards the direction of the swimming pool. The splashes were clues enough for him to tell the person in distress was most likely drowning and the only place you could drown in here was the pool.

It was pitch black at the pool area and he cursed himself for not switching on the power **before** he ran in here. He figured there was no time to turn back therefore he ripped off his borrowed shirt and shoes and dove in.

The water was warm, probably due to heating, so there wasn't much of a shock to his systems when he went under the surface. The water wasn't the problem, the ominous sphere-like objects floating on and under the surface which looked suspiciously like sea mines to the youth were and whoever was in trouble was in the middle of them.

Avoiding the mines weren't hard but the darkness made it rather tricky and Icharus had accidentally bumped into two of them at two separate attempts. The result wasn't pretty as he found out. The mines which exploded blew the air out of his lungs and forced him to surface to take in more air, wasting precious time.

His third attempt was more successful as he avoided the mines with painstaking slowness and pulled the girl to the surface and over the pool's side. His troubles weren't over however, the girl had stopped breathing.

Icharus almost screamed obscenities that would make anyone in hearing distance turn away in shame but he swallowed them. It took him some moments to recall vaguely how someone else had performed CPR and he mimicked it without caring that he was doing it wrongly. For instance, he was pushing the girl's breasts instead of her chest and sucking air out of her mouth instead of blowing it.

It took him a few more seconds of logical thinking to realize he was doing it wrong and correcting the procedure. After all, it was her lungs that were filled with water, not her breasts and he needed to give her air, not sucking it out.

Miraculously, after what seemed like eternity to Icharus, the girl finally started choking, sputtering and vomiting water. Icharus wondered if something was still wrong as she was still coughing and panting for air. He never did know what happened after CPR had been performed. He **had **been more adept at taking lives instead of saving them.

While the girl continued to cough, he decided he must have missed something so he pushed the sitting girl back onto the ground and pressed his lips onto hers again. He was about to blow air into her mouth again when he heard her murmuring something into their mouths. He pulled his lips away instinctively and sat back. The girl sat up again and in the darkness he could see she was avoiding looking in his direction even though he knew she could not possibly see him.

"Sho-showei… How daring of you…" The girl protested with an I-don't-mind-what you just-did tone in an unfamiliar voice. He couldn't see her features clearly enough to tell who she was.

Icharus didn't know why she called him a lieutenant but decided it doesn't matter.

"Are you all right? Can you stand?" He asked.

"I think so." The girl answered and tried to stand up at the same time but she dropped back to the floor again with a yelp.

Icharus sighed.

_It's just getting better and better._

"What's wrong now?" he asked a bit impatiently.

"Nothing's wrong." The girl said in an indignant tone and tried to stand up again and failing miserably as she drop onto the wet floor again. Icharus could tell that her right foot was giving her trouble.

Sighing again, he turned his back to her and knelt down. "Climb onto my back. I'll carry you back to your room."

"W-what? I can't let people see me being carried around like some commoner! It's already humiliating enough that I had to be saved from drowning." She complained and her voice was thick with annoyance.

_GREAT! Just great! A noble! _He forced himself to be calm and thought of what to say.

"The lights are out and everyone else is in his or her rooms. If we hurry no one will see you. Or you would rather sit here all alone in the dark and continue to be a wet, miserable princess."

"Miserable princess? How dare you! I never thought you were this mean Showei!" She snapped at him.

"Then I'm leaving!" He snapped back.

"Humph! Fine!"

Icharus turned and stomped back towards the exit, grumbling all the way when he heard another yelp from behind him. He stopped and looked back to see the girl trying to support her weight against the wall and walk at the same time, moaning each time her right foot touched the floor. Even though it looked like she was having extreme difficulties just moving an inch, she pressed on anyway.

Icharus found himself admiring the girl's determination.

_Might as well help her all the way,_ he thought to himself, resigning himself to whatever Fate had in store for him.

He grabbed his shirt from the ground and went back to her again.

"Hey!" He tapped her shoulder, causing the girl to shriek in surprise. He hadn't realized he had been moving silently.

"W-what? What are you doing back here! Have you come to mock me? Clearly Showei, you are not the gentleman I thought you were. Go away!"

Icharus didn't bother to answer her. He draped the shirt around her shoulders and before she could protest, he snaked each of his arm behind her knees and lifted her. This forced the girl to grab onto his shoulders to prevent herself from falling down.

Then he walked, ignoring the girl's insistent protests and threats.

* * *

Sumire was exhausted from her fruitless objections and decided to clamp up when they've reached the stairs to the first floor. She was too tired to scream anymore and she didn't want anyone to hear her. It didn't mean that she wasn't still angry.

She was, cold, tired, and hungry. One of ears was blocked, the world sounded funny and Ohgami was acting so uncharacteristically ungentlemanly. It seemed like he had changed into another person. To think she had felt delighted that he had rescued her like a prince and stole her first kiss just like that made her madder. Now he was even piggybacking her around like some peasant carrying a grain sack. So common and unseemly!

She was still seething in anger at this insult when she noticed something about 'Ohgami' when they passed by under a red emergency light. His hair looked different. It was longer and more chaotic but she dismissed it as a result of it being wet. After passing another emergency light, Sumire couldn't help but feel that 'Ohgami' was a lot shorter.

"Showei?" She tapped his head like she was rapping on a table.

"What!"

Sumire could feel 'Ohgami' turning his head to look at her when suddenly the lights went back on.

* * *

Ohgami Ichiro heard another shriek. This time it came from outside of Iris' room which he was currently in and he dashed towards the door with Iris a few steps behind.

Upon exiting the door, the captain was almost run down by the running figure of Sumire in her swimming suit. Before he could ask questions, she had slammed the door shut to her room.

"Eike-Onichan!"

Following Iris' surprised gaze, Ohgami saw Icharus sitting on the ground rubbing his face and cursing lightly at the opposite direction Sumire had ran. Instructing Iris to stay put, Ohgami approached the other youth and didn't know whether he should laugh or feel sorry about him when he saw his face.

Icharus' right cheek was as red as a tomato, obviously the result of a huge slap, and his left cheek was no better. Three parallel red lines ran across his cheek and they converged at his chin, dripping the sticky red blood on to the well polished floor. The teen looked like he could kill someone that instant.

Ohgami shook his head.

_Could this be the sign of things to come?_

He sighed at the prospect of his future. He could see all the problems coming his way already.

* * *

**End Notes**

Finally finished! Procrastinated a long while before posting this hehe.

Please R&R and feel free to drop any questions!


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